To a sordid story already dripping with sex and allegations of Nazi role-play, add a dash of espionage.
British newspapers reported yesetrday that a call girl involved in a five-girl sex romp with auto racing boss Max Mosley was married to an agent from Britain's domestic intelligence service MI5.
The Sunday Times said the agent left MI5 in April after admitting that his wife was one of five prostitutes who took part in the sex acts, the details of which were splashed across the pages of Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper for two weeks straight.
The ensuing scandal has Mosley struggling to cling to his job as the president of Formula One's governing body.
The story, backed by a videotape which shows a man said to be Mosley speaking in German and being whipped, was particularly arresting because of the allegation that there was a Nazi theme.
Mosley is the son of an infamous British fascist leader, Oswald Mosley. Max Mosley hotly denies the allegation of Nazi role-play and is suing the News of the World's parent company for breach of privacy.
The revelation that one of the prostitutes was the wife of an intelligence agent - which was also carried by the Sunday Telegraph and the Sunday Independent - would be a serious embarrassment for MI5, whose Web site describes the screening process for its employees as "the most comprehensive form of security vetting in the U.K."
Britain's Home Office, which handles media queries on MI5, refused to give any comment about the story.
Formula One also declined comment, but it released a letter from Mosley saying he did not intend to step down before his mandate ends in October 2009.
